Thursday, November 21, 2013

Thoughts on Revelation 8: God is the same in the Old and New Testaments

In chapter 8 of Revelation we get the first four trumpets of judgement.  I think the eagle in verse 13 sums up the message well: "Woe, woe, to those who live on the earth..."  In great swaths God sends destruction on the earth. 

This is not a warm, fuzzy thought.  I'm not sure you can read Revelation and think of God as warm and fuzzy.  This is more like the God of wrath that many mistakenly claim is the realm of the Old Testament.  I think what people fail to remember is that the period of most of the New Testament was about 70 years.  How much of God's wrath did one expect to see in a 70 year period.  One didn't see all that much wrath in any given 70 year period in the Old Testament.  Revelation is a prophesy of what was to come (I'm not going to guess as to when).  It takes a longer view over a longer period than the description of current events in the New Testament.  So, in that regard, Revelation is much more like the Old Testament.  This, I believe, indicates that God did not change from the OT to the NT.  Rather, the NT focuses on a brief time period of particular generosity and grace.  We find those in the OT as well, we just get a more complete picture in the OT.  Revelation also provides this more complete picture.

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